Qatar Daily News

Qatar was ranked the most peaceful country in the GCC in the fourth edition of the Global Peace Index.

The emirate moved up two positions from last year’s report to 15th overall out of 149 countries. It was ranked No 1 out of 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Oman was second in the region and 23rd overall. Kuwait (39th), the UAE (44th), Bahrain (70th) and Saudi Arabia (107th) rounded out the rankings of GCC countries.

Qatar has put itself solidly behind fellow Arab states that have decided to take Israel to the International Court of Justice for killing nine activists in a raid on Gaza-bound aid ships on Monday, and said it would meet all the expenses to be incurred on the legal proceedings.

Qatar has also said it would fund a worldwide media campaign to expose Israel, its blockade of the Gaza Strip and the aggression it has been perpetrating in the territory.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told local Arabic dailies that Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, has assured the League of the country’s moral and financial support on the above issues.
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on finance supervision cooperation.

The MAS said in a statement that the MoU paves the way for sharing of information between the two central banks to strengthen the supervision of cross-border operations of financial institutions under their purview. The MoU will also facilitate staff training and technical assistance between the two central banks.

The MoU was signed at the sides of the Islamic Financial Services Board Summit held here from May 6 to 8.

Qatar, one of OPEC’s smallest
producers, has notified at least two Asian term buyers it will
cut May supplies of its Marine crude, while it will continue to
supply contacted volumes of its Land crude, traders said on
Wednesday.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) told the buyers it would cut
supplies of medium-heavy Qatar Marine crude by 4 percent from
contracted volumes in May, compared with no cuts for April, the
traders said.

QP will also keep supplies of Qatar Land crude at full
contractual volumes in May, steady from levels over the two
previous months.

Traders said the supply curbs by Qatar, which has been
cutting crude supplies to Asia since January in line with OPEC’s
deal to cut output to prop up prices, was not a surprise.

“More or less it was what we were expecting,” one trader
said.

Qatar’s notice came after OPEC member United Arab Emirates
last week told buyers it will increase supplies of its
medium-heavy Upper Zakum crude in May, but keep curbs on three
other grades unchanged from April. [ID:nT103266]

Qatar also notified the two Asian buyers that it would leave
its 5 percent operational tolerance for May volumes, unchanged
from April.

Following are the cuts in Qatar term crude supplies to Asian
since January 2009, according to the sources.

January February March April May
Qatar Marine 5% 6% 15% no cuts 4%
Qatar Land 5% 3% no cuts no cuts no cuts

(Reuters)

Arab League chief Amr Mussa arrived in Yemen on Saturday in the first leg of a regional tour aimed at healing a rift that opened between Arab states during the 22-day war in Gaza, a spokesman said.

Mussa will try “to clear the air and to examine ways to deal with the current situation,” Arab League official Hisham Yussef told reporters.

Mussa will meet Jordanian King Abdullah on Sunday and then will travel to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Yussef said.

The war in Gaza, which ended on January 22, exposed deep divisions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the one hand and Syria and Qatar on the other.
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The Humanitarian Forum – a network of key humanitarian and charitable organisations from Muslim donor and recipient countries; the West; and the multilateral system – is organising a meeting on 1 February in Doha, Qatar, to ensure that aid earmarked for Gaza is effective and reaches the most vulnerable population.

Participants will include Qatar Charity, which will host the event, Qatar Red Crescent, Humanitarian Forum Kuwait, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, International Committee of the Red Cross and Turkey’s Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today ended his two-day official trip to Qatar with a visit to the Islamic Arts Museum here.

He and his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim and several Cabinet ministers spent about an hour at the museum.

Abdullah showed a keen interest on the various artifacts on display which came from Islamic countries like Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Qatar itself. Among the exhibits included a handwritten Quran and other works of art produced around the 16th century.
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